


Return

by TiffanyF



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: AU, Angst, M/M, ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-06-09
Packaged: 2017-11-29 03:03:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiffanyF/pseuds/TiffanyF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU for the start of season 2. Jack's return doesn't go as smoothly as he'd hoped. Spoilers for season 1 and slight spoilers for the first episode of season 2. Don't own, don't claim, no money made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey kids, did you miss me?”

Jack was relieved to be back with his team, back where he belonged. Seeing Ianto made Jack’s heart skip a couple of beats, made everything he’d suffered at the hands of the Master worth it. All the deaths, all the torture and torment, it was worth it to see Ianto again. His relief lasted until they were back at the hub and he had a chance to watch them. Gwen took over, giving out orders and instructions that everyone followed without question.

“Wow, you guys are working really well together,” Jack commented. He started to feel uneasy, wondering exactly how long he’d been gone.

“We didn’t have much choice. You left, Jack,” Gwen said. “You didn’t tell us anything, you just left. It was become a team, figure out what we’re doing or die. What would you have done in that situation?”

“Where did you go?” Ianto asked softly.

“I found my Doctor,” Jack replied. “I had to catch him before he left again. There wasn’t time to let any of you know what was going on.”

“Did he fix you?” Owen asked from the back.

“What’s to fix?” Jack grinned. “You don’t mess with this level of perfection.” He looked at Ianto. “I came back for you. All of you.”

Gwen pushed back into Jack’s line of view. “Maybe we don’t need you anymore, did you ever think of that?” she demanded. “That maybe we can function perfectly well without you around.”

Jack was about to reply when he caught the expression in everyone’s eyes. “You know what, no, I never thought that,” he said, drawing up to his full height. “You have no idea how long I’ve worked for Torchwood, Gwen, no idea what I know or what I can do. I left, yes, but I had no choice. I came back and, you know what, I had a choice on that. I chose to come back because my team, you lot, were all I could think about. Maybe that was a mistake after all. Fine, do without me. Just keep in mind that I have codes that you will need one day.” Jack didn’t look back as he swept out of the hub.  
**********

“Want to talk about it?”

Jack didn’t look over when the Doctor sat down next to him on the roof. He’d gone there more out of instinct that anything else, his favorite place to watch over the city and think. “What’s to talk about?” he asked. “I guess I loved them more than they loved me.”

“I doubt that’s true,” the Doctor said.

“How long was I gone for, Doctor?” Jack asked. “From the moment you landed to recharge the TARDIS until we got back from the reset. How long was I gone?”

“A month, maybe forty days,” the Doctor said. “Long enough for them to become a team, but not long enough for you to be really missed, not as their leader. I can’t speak for anything more personal.”

Jack snorted. “I can’t tell them anything of what we went through, all that time on the Valliant, during that year. How can I tell them that they all lived through a year of fear and terror, of pain and death and none of them remember it because they all got the reset?” He laid back on the sun-warmed cement and closed his eyes. “Do you know that the Master brought Tosh and Ianto up about half-way through that year, Doctor? He skinned Tosh alive in front of me and tortured Ianto for a week before Ianto finally died from all the trauma, and there was nothing I could do to save them. I tried, when he first brought them in, but his people shot me over and over, every time I came back to life, they killed me again. Hours of it, until I was too weak to do anything else. I had to watch them both suffer and die and there was nothing I could do. When I saw them both, today, all I wanted to do was hug them. Hold them tight against me to be sure they were alive and okay, but they wouldn’t let me near them. It was like they were both scared of me.”

The Doctor covered Jack’s hand with his own and squeezed. “How can I help you, Jack?” he asked. “I know you want to stay here, with your team, but what can I do to help you?”

“Nothing,” Jack said. “I am Torchwood, Doctor. With Torchwood 1 gone and 4 missing like it is, the guys up in Scotland are there just to monitor. I’m the living embodiment of Torchwood now, I’ve been working there for so long. I want to keep the Earth safe, protect them until they find their feet in the new era. I suppose it’s time to build a new team and get on with it.”

“Is that really what you want to do?”

“No, of course not, because I care about those people down there, love them like they’re my family,” Jack said. “God, I love Ianto so much that it almost hurts some days. I never had the chance to tell him, now it looks like I never will. I knew it would hurt them, Doctor, my leaving like I did, but I had to talk to you. I needed answers, even if I didn’t like them. I thought that Ianto, at least, would understand.”

“Maybe he does, Jack,” the Doctor sighed. “Maybe he does understand and doesn’t know what to do with the feelings the thought of us together give him.”

“Before I met him, in a second, Doc,” Jack said. “No matter how much you and I fight, disagree, even hate each other, you know I’m still going to love you. You took me out of a bad place and showed me how to be good. I had forgotten how to be good, and you showed me that it was so much better than what I’d been doing. Then you left, and I was on my own, but I still wanted to do good because I wanted you to be proud of me.”

“I am proud of you, Captain,” the Doctor said. “There aren’t many people I would trust to have with me in a crisis, you know. You’re right at the top of the list, you are.”

“Thanks,” Jack said. He squeezed the hand covering his and sat up. “I guess there’s nothing for it. I’ve got to go back to the hub and start erasing the parts of my team that makes them my family. If you know anyone who wants to help defend the Earth, send them my way.”

“Give it a day, Jack?” the Doctor asked. “It’s possible that your team will see what a mistake they made and want to talk to you.”

“I doubt it,” Jack replied. “Oh well, fine, you always know what the future holds and it’s hard to tell you no. I’ll just stay here. It’s nice enough out and no one else knows where I am. How did you find me, anyway?”

The Doctor grinned, looking a little insane. “I always know where you are, Jack, remember? You’re a shining beacon to me,” he said. “You’re brilliant, you are. Sure you won’t come back to the TARDIS? You could spend the night helping me tinker with her.”

“Nah, I’ll stay here, just enjoy being outside again,” Jack said. “No offense to your ship, but I think I’ve had enough of the inside of machines for a long time.”

“Call me if you need me.”

“Sure,” Jack agreed. “Doctor, can I tell you something?”

The Doctor sat back down, facing Jack this time. “Of course you can, Captain. You can tell me anything you want.”

“It’s about Ianto,” Jack said. “When he first came to me, he had a secret. He hid her in the basement, betrayed Torchwood to try and keep his girlfriend alive and caused two more deaths. Two more that link back to the Battle of Canary Wharf. Three, if you count his girlfriend, even though she should have been destroyed that day.”

“Why?”

“She was a half-converted Cyberman,” Jack said. “He pulled her out of the conversion unit during the end of the battle and kept her alive, thinking, hoping that she could be changed back. I don’t know all the details, he’s never told me, but I guess taking her off the life-support he’d had her on triggered a piece of tech deep in her brain and she went full-convert on him. She killed two innocents, four if you count both me and Ianto, that day. We finally managed to kill her, but I will never forget what Ianto said to me that day. He said I was a worse monster than she was.”

“Oh, Jack.”

“Maybe he’s right, Doctor. You said it yourself, I’m wrong,” Jack sighed. “There are days, there have been so many days when I would have killed myself if it would take. Like today, I thought about jumping off the building, but it’s such a painful way to die, and coming back from that isn’t pleasant either.”

“Jack, listen to me, you are not a monster and you’re temporally wrong,” the Doctor said. “No human should ever become a fixed point in time and space. You shine so brightly you hurt my eyes. The sight of the time vortex holding you together turns my stomach, but your soul is the same. Your heart is the same, and those are what drew me to you in 1941. You have such a kind and caring heart, even with all the darkness that you’ve seen, you still, deep down, care for others. Even now, you’re thinking about Ianto and how you could apologize to him, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Jack admitted. “There’s more though. I gave Ianto a second chance after the mess with Lisa, his girlfriend. I figured that if you could give me a second chance after I almost wiped out the human race, then Ianto deserved a chance to prove to me that he’s bigger on the inside. It took a long time, but he slowly started to trust me, open up to me, and let me see that I was right to trust him again. He stood up for me when I was sent back to 1941 again by the rift, I watched the tapes to find out what happened while I was gone and he said that I needed him. He’s right, I need him so badly. But then, God, then everything went wrong. Owen opened the rift to bring Tosh and me back and things started to slip through. I don’t know what everyone saw, well, I know Tosh saw her mother. I can only guess that Ianto saw Lisa. When Gwen lost her boyfriend, she decided to open the rift to reset time.”

The Doctor frowned, hopped up and started pacing. “It shouldn’t work like that,” he said. “Time can be rewritten, yes, at times. It’s possible, but you can’t reset time using a rift in time and space. The vortex doesn’t work like that.”

“I knew that they were heading for a disaster and tried to stop them. Gwen got past me and, when I told Ianto to stop her, he said he was going to help her,” Jack said. “He turned right around and betrayed me again. He helped to open the rift and brought an ancient monster through. Abaddon, Doctor. Walking the Earth and I was the only one who could stop him.”

“Jack, you didn’t.”

“What else could I do?” Jack asked. “I let him feed on me, not ten minutes after I came back to life. Owen shot me when I tried to stop them from opening the rift. I was dead for three days. That’s the longest I’ve stayed dead since Rose changed me. Then you came and I left.”

The Doctor sat back down next to Jack. “You saved the Earth, Jack,” he said. “You saved the ones you love and you needed answers. I don’t see any other way you could have done it. I really don’t.”

“It’s just, how do I trust Ianto again?” Jack rolled onto his side and curled up. “That’s twice, Doctor. Both times led to my death. What happens if I go back to the hub tomorrow and they kill me again. The team knows that I can’t die. What if they decide they want to kill me and then do something to get me out of the way while I’m dead. They could freeze me. They could throw me into the rift and I don’t think that Ianto would stop them.”

“Give me your wrist,” the Doctor said. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at Jack’s vortex manipulator. “I’m still not giving you time travel back, but if you do get pushed into the rift, you can send me a message and I’ll come fetch you.”

“Thank you,” Jack said softly. “How long are you going to be around, Doc?”

“I’ll stay for a day or two,” the Doctor said. “You sure you don’t want to come back to the TARDIS with me? Your bed is still there.”

“I want to be outside,” Jack said. “I’ll be okay, Doctor. I’m just going to enjoy the silence for a while, and the sun. It’s rare enough to have both these days.”

“All right then, just, Jack, promise me you’re not going to throw yourself off the building or try and shoot yourself in the head.”

Jack nodded. “I promise. I’m not ready to die just yet, Doctor. No matter how much it hurts.”


	2. Chapter 2

Ianto thought his heart would stop when he saw Jack standing behind him, gun in hand, cocky smile in place. How long had he dreamed of seeing the other man again, and Jack was back. All the waiting, the wondering, it was finally over and he could find out what happened. Why Jack left with no warning at all. Ianto had a feeling it had to do with Jack’s doctor when he found the hand was missing, but he hadn’t wanted to assume anything. If he’d been sleeping in Jack’s bed more than his own, no one seemed to comment on it. 

When they got back to the hub, Ianto watched Jack out of the corner of his eye and could see that the immortal was impressed at how the team was working. Then Gwen had to go and open her mouth and spoil everything. Ianto watched in horror as Jack left again, coat flapping behind him like it always did. 

“What was that?” he demanded.

“I was just telling him the truth,” Gwen said.

“How is that the truth?” Ianto demanded. “We need him, Gwen. We’re not Torchwood without him.”

“He’ll be back,” Owen broke in. “You know he just has a flare for the dramatic. When he thinks we’ve suffered enough and are starting to doubt what we did, he’ll sweep back in here and take over again.”

“You could go after him,” Tosh suggested softly. 

“It won’t make any difference,” Gwen said. “You saw him, he looked at all of us before he left. Whatever he saw in our faces, he saw that we were all thinking the same thing. He’s not coming back, Owen. He has to accept that we’re Torchwood now, and if he wants to work here again, he has to prove himself.”

“You’ve let the past month go to your head, Gwen,” Ianto exclaimed. “We’re not Torchwood. We can’t even manage a simple car chase without having to stop for directions. Jack’s been doing this for over a hundred years. He’s the soul of Torchwood, the only one who knows what it is and what to do. I never should have sided with you. You lot think you know everything and all you did was get Jack killed. I’m just as guilty as you for that, I helped open the rift, but I shouldn’t have. I should have listened to him.”

“Just because he’s shagging you doesn’t mean he’s right, Ianto,” Gwen said. “He would have got the lot of us killed if we hadn’t opened the rift.”

“You mean you would have lost Rhys,” Ianto said. “Jack said he knew what to do and I shouldn’t have doubted him.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” a strange voice interjected into the conversation. “You should never, ever doubt Captain Jack Harkness, well, unless he’s trying to convince you to play cards. Then you should run as fast as you can in the other direction.” 

The team all swung around, guns drawn and pointing at the man in the brown suit and long tan jacket. He was poking around the sub-etheric resonator and didn’t seem to register the guns pointing at him. “This is good, this bit here. You need something a little more wibbly though. Time is so hard to register properly, if you have something more wibbly, then the wobbly bits won’t get away from you so easily,” he continued. He looked up. “Oh, hello. I’m the Doctor.”

Ianto almost dropped his gun. “The Doctor?” he whispered. “As in, Jack’s doctor. The one he’s been waiting for and ran off with?”

“Yep,” the Doctor said. He turned back to the rift equipment and started poking at it with some sort of silver stick. “I asked him to come travel with me again, I know how much he loves traveling and do you know what he told me? He had a team here on Earth that meant everything to him and with them is where he belonged.” Sparks flew over his head and he pulled out a pair of glasses to look at something. “Captain Jack Harkness turned down adventures in time and space to come back here to this planet. To you lot. Then you turn on him.”

“He left,” Ianto said.

“You knew where he was, Ianto Jones,” the Doctor said. He made his way up to where the team was standing and looked at Tosh’s computer. “The hand in the jar, you knew what it was, what it meant to Jack. That it was connected to me. That was the message he left you, and you should have had more faith in him.”

“How can we?” Gwen demanded. “He never tells us anything. He lies to us and drags us into the most dangerous situations around. He’s given kids to the fairies rather than try to stop them. How can we have faith in a man who would let innocent people die?”

The Doctor looked at Ianto Jones. “Do you hate me, Ianto Jones?” he asked softly.

“What?” Ianto was confused by the sudden change in topic.

“It’s a simple enough question. Do you hate me?”

“I don’t know you, so how can I hate you?” Ianto asked. “I know that Jack loves you, but I’ve known that from the beginning, and how can I ask to have all of Jack’s huge heart? It wouldn’t be fair to him, or to me.”

“I was at Canary Wharf,” the Doctor said. “I wasn’t fast enough, smart enough to stop the Daleks or the Cybermen. So I’m the reason that your girlfriend was put in that conversion chamber, Ianto Jones. I’m the reason she’s dead.”

Ianto shook his head. “The Cybermen are the reason she’s dead, Doctor. I’m sure you did everything you could that day. Torchwood London might not have had the highest opinion of you, but I was able to read between the lines. You would never back down from a fight against either of those races, and you never do anything slowly when people are in danger.”

The Doctor nodded with a smile. “Bigger on the inside, brilliant,” he said. “I love it when that happens. Now then, Gwen Cooper. Answer me this, your boyfriend is lying on the floor, bleeding from a wound and he dies before you can get to him. What do you do?”

“How do you know about that?” Gwen demanded. “What did Jack tell you?”

“Jack didn’t tell me anything. I’m not human, I’m an alien,” the Doctor said. “Your boyfriend is dead and Jack tells you that resetting time will destroy the planet. What do you do?”

“Open the rift and reset time,” Gwen said.

“Ianto Jones, if you were given the option of resetting time so Canary Wharf never happened, what would you do?” the Doctor asked, staring at Gwen.

“I don’t know,” Ianto said slowly. “All those people wouldn’t be dead, Lisa wouldn’t be dead, but how many people would die if I opened the rift completely?”

“An unknown number,” the Doctor said. “All of them innocent of any wrong-doing, just normal humans living their lives and suddenly a cloud of death falls over them and that’s the end for them. No more.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to do it,” Ianto admitted. “I regret what we did so much. So many people died because we opened the rift and let Abaddon through. Jack saved us, and we almost lost him because of it.”

“Bigger on the inside,” the Doctor said again. “Whereas you, Gwen Cooper, are small and short-sighted. Go find something to do, you too, Owen Harper. I don’t even have to ask about you. Toshiko, stay for a minute, please.”

“Now hang on, who are you to be giving us orders?”

“I’m the Doctor. This isn’t Torchwood at the moment, it’s a bloody joke, and I’m telling you to leave,” the Doctor said. “Out, now, before I show you exactly why the Daleks call me the Oncoming Storm.”

Ianto watched Gwen and Owen leave the hub. “Doctor, what’s going on?” he asked when they were alone.

“What’s going on is Jack’s on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the city and was thinking about throwing himself off it,” the Doctor said. “He’s not going to, Ianto, relax, but he’s in a bad place right now. I need you both to listen to me closely.”

“Why us?” Tosh asked, speaking for the first time. “And why didn’t you ask me any questions like you did Ianto and Gwen?”

“I don’t need to, I could tell from your computer that you’re so much bigger on the inside than you think you are,” the Doctor said. “While Jack was away with me, we met one of my oldest enemies. We were both captured and Jack was tortured every day for a year.”

“But you were only gone a month,” Ianto said. He sat down. Just the thought of Jack being tortured or held captive making his legs weak.

“A month from your point of view, for us it was so much longer,” the Doctor said. “We managed to defeat him, in the end, and he died. When he died, time reset itself back to the moment we were captured. It only reset for everyone who wasn’t on the ship when it happened though, so every person here on the Earth forgot about that year, like it was a year that never was.”

“Without the reset, you and Jack remember everything that happened to you,” Tosh said. She sat down too, looking pale. “Jack spent a year being tortured and then, when he came back, we turned on him. No wonder he’s up on a roof.”

“What happened to him?” Ianto asked.

“I don’t know all the details,” the Doctor replied. “I was captive in another part of the ship, victim to my own tortures, but Jack told me some of it while we were cleaning everything up. My old enemy was very, very inventive when he found out that Jack couldn’t remain dead, but that wasn’t the worst of it. I just found out about that today.”

“What?” Ianto asked, dreading the answer.

The Doctor looked directly at him. “The Master, my enemy, found out about you lot and had you two brought to the ship,” he said. “In front of Jack, he tortured and killed you both. I only know about when it happened, I remember the Master was upset about something, but wouldn’t say. Jack would have lost heart seeing the two of you dead, the two he was fighting to protect and get back to. Revenge would have taken over after a week or two and Jack would have started to fight again, it’s just his nature, but his heart wouldn’t have been in it anymore. Not with you gone.”

“I didn’t know Jack cared about me that much,” Tosh said. “Ianto, I’ll go have a talk with Gwen and Owen. I don’t know what can be done, but I’ll make them see how stupid they’re both being.”

“Don’t tell them about any of this,” the Doctor cautioned. “Jack wouldn’t want you two to know. I’m making a risky move here.”

Tosh nodded and, grabbing her stuff, left the hub. Ianto looked back at the Doctor. “That’s not all of it,” he said.

“No, it’s not,” the Doctor said. “You need to talk to Jack, Ianto Jones. He has some severe doubts plaguing him right now, and I hate to see him like this. Jack is always so full of confidence, it hurts to see him broken like this.”

Ianto nodded. “Will you tell me which building he’s up on?”

“Sure,” the Doctor said. “Ianto, be careful with him. Jack’s been through more than anyone can imagine, even me, and I’m older than I look. I don’t know how good his mind is right now, it’s possible that the wrong word could break him completely.”

“I’ll be careful,” Ianto said.


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto's heart about broke when he stepped out onto the roof and saw Jack curled up in a ball, his coat acting as a blanket, asleep in the sun. He'd never seen the Captain sleep curled up like that, and the position just drove home what the Doctor had talked about with the missing year and the torture. He moved silently across the roof and sat down near Jack and just looked at him. Now that he was able to get a good look, Ianto could see the stress lines that weren't there when Jack left. There were dark circles under his eyes and he'd lost weight. Ianto prided himself on knowing everything, but he didn't know how he'd missed all the signs that something wasn't right with Jack. Was it possible the other man was that good at hiding things from him? That was a stupid question, really. Of course Jack was good at hiding things. He was the king of deflection when it came to questions about himself or his past. Ianto still wasn't sure where Jack was even from, other than a general time frame.

"Come to watch me die again?" Jack asked softly.

"I thought you were asleep," Ianto replied. "Of course I haven't. I just got you back, you're not dying any time soon, Jack."

"Why are you here, Ianto?" Jack asked.

"I came to tell you that I made a mistake," Ianto said. "I've made so many mistakes, Jack, but they all link back to one thing and that's not trusting you. You gave me so many chances after Lisa, when I know I didn't really deserve them, you watched over me and helped me find myself again. I never realized how bound up my identity had become with Lisa, that I was lost without her. You showed me that it was possible to live again."

Jack snorted. "All you did was make me the center of your life, Ianto," he said. "I was selfish and let you do it. I thought that maybe you loved me, maybe I was lucky enough to have someone else who loved me for who I was, not what I could do for them, but I was wrong. So very wrong."

"What are you talking about, Jack?"

"The Doctor. Oh, how I loved him, I felt it the minute I saw him," Jack said. He rolled over, his back to Ianto. "We were in an abandoned hospital with an alien threat chasing us, and I was instantly in love. With him and his sonic screwdriver. I know he loved me too, in his own way, and I never understood what happened when he abandoned me. I thought that he cared enough about me to make sure I was truly dead, not just take off and leave me alone in the dark again. I wanted to know why. What happened to me, why he left me, could he help me. So many questions to answer and I didn't even know where to start."

"I know you had to talk to your doctor, Jack, I just don't understand why you left so suddenly, without a word to any of us," Ianto said. "I was scared something had happened to you. Gwen said you were taken, and my heart about stopped. I didn't know if it was the rift that took you, if some alien appeared and kidnapped you, if you were alive or dead. I almost fainted in the doorway to the hub, Jack. The thought of you gone hurt me so badly, and then I noticed the hand was gone. I didn't tell the others, never pointed it out although I think Owen and Tosh both noticed it in their own time. I wanted to find a way to follow you, help you however I could."

Jack sighed. "What did you do for yourself while I was gone, Ianto?" he asked.

"What?"

"You hear me. What did you do that was just for Ianto Jones?"

"Well, let's see, I took in some films, cleaned the flat and the hub, you wouldn't believe the state of the lower archive," Ianto said. "I went to the shore one weekend, even thought I thought it would be better to be there with you. And, before you say anything, sir, those are all things I enjoy, even if some of them were tied to work. You know better than anyone that our work takes up a fair bit of time."

"So you're saying that you'd be fine if I never came back?" Jack asked.

"I'd be able to deal," Ianto replied slowly. "I'd function, like I have been for the past month, but I wouldn't feel alive. You're a bright spark in my life, Jack."

"So the Doctor keeps telling me," Jack muttered. "So you're telling me, now, that you want me back at the hub. Back at work."

"Yes."

"What made you change your mind, because that's not what I saw when Gwen was telling me to get out of my own house," Jack said.

"Jack, this really is quite stupid. Can't you at least look at me while we're talking?" Ianto asked. "I feel like I'm back at school."

Jack snorted and didn't move. He hadn't mentioned it to the Doctor, but there was some lingering pain in his left side from something the Master had done to him in the last days he was held prisoner. He knew it would fade with time, just like everything did with him, but he wasn't exactly comfortable lying on his left side at the moment. "Answer my question, Ianto."

"Jack, I was still in shock when we got back to the hub," Ianto said. "I'm not sure what you saw on my face, but disbelief had to be pretty far up the list of strong emotions. I'd been wanting you back so badly, and suddenly you were, and it was as if you'd never been gone. I don't know what you saw on my face, but it wasn't me thinking that you needed to leave again. I'm sorry I didn't speak up sooner, but I was in shock. Part of me was convinced I was still dreaming."

"Doctor, get out here," Jack said suddenly.

Ianto jumped and looked around. "Jack, there's no one here," he said.

"Oh, he's here." Jack sat up, winced and stood. "Now, Doctor, I'm not in the mood for this."

"I just wanted to be sure you weren't going to jump, Jack," the Doctor said, appearing from behind some sort of tower. "Who fancies a trip to the beach? Something nice and warm where you can relax and let that wound heal, Captain. You should have told me about it, you know, we could have done something."

"I'm fine," Jack said. "Why did you tell Ianto where I was?"

"Because you need to talk with him, Jack, and see what he's thinking. Ianto reminds me of a man I met back in 1941, you know."

"Doctor."

"Jack."

Ianto looked back and forth between them, not sure what was going on, but almost positive that there was more being said than he was hearing. He decided to just stay quiet and watch the pair, hoping that maybe he would be able to work out what was going on between them.

"I thought you were going to go tinker with the TARDIS, not go talk to Ianto and the others," Jack said.

"Well, I thought about it, there's a rough edge to the sound of one of the cores, but then I got to thinking about what you said and how highly you speak of your team, that you chose to stay here with them rather than come travel with me again, and I got to wondering if they were all really as good as you made them out to sound," the Doctor said. "So I popped back a little and went to pay them a visit. Turns out that Ianto there was defending you rather hotly, if I had to say, and was obviously regretting quite a bit, so I thought to myself that the two of you talking would be to the benefit of everyone, and came along to make sure no one ended up going off of any buildings."

"You....you....you meddling alien," Jack sputtered. "You were never this bad."

"Regeneration can change a lot of things, Captain, I guess this is one of them. But never mistake silence for not caring," the Doctor said. "You know how I felt about you and Rose."

"Yeah," Jack said softly.

"So, how about it? I meant it when I said beach, you know. A nice, quiet planet, a place where you can heal, the pair of you can talk and we can all enjoy the sun while I fix the TARDIS."

Ianto almost did a double-take. "Take us off-world?" he asked.

"I have a time machine, Ianto, I could have you back before anyone knew you were gone. The reason I couldn't do that with Jack was that there was a timeline issue. I brought him back as close as I could," the Doctor said.

"What he means is, his driving sucks," Jack said.

"It does not," the Doctor protested.

"Two words, Doctor; Res Avaon."

Ianto wondered if the Doctor was about to have a heart attack, the time lord went pale so fast. "Jack," he said softly.

"Nope, not happening," Jack said. He picked up his coat and stalked off, slamming the door behind him.

"Well, that went less well than I hoped it would," the Doctor said.

"Are you okay, Doctor?"

"Fine, I'm fine, thank you, Ianto. Jack was just reminding me of a planet where the two of us, plus Rose, my darling Rose, almost died because we landed in the wrong era," the Doctor said. "We ended up needing to be there to help fix a fairly major problem, but Jack's right. I don't always end up where I'm planning to go."

"He still shouldn't have been so mean to you," Ianto said.

"He's hurting, and lashing out because of it," the Doctor sighed. "So human of him, really. There are days I almost forget he is human. You should probably go after him."

"I wouldn't know where to look next," Ianto said. "There are a lot of roofs in Cardiff."

The Doctor sighed. "I'm sure you know him well enough to at least have a guess of where he's gone. Off you trot."

Ianto left, wondering if the day could possibly get any weirder.


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto thought that the Doctor was seriously overestimating his ability to know and read Jack. There were so many places Jack could have gone to hide, he'd lived in Cardiff so long that it was even possible he'd built a couple of places to go to be alone that he'd never told anyone about, that Ianto really had no idea where to start. With a sigh, he headed back to the hub, thinking that he might be able to get one of the computers to lock onto Jack's wrist-strap, giving him a place to start.

He was worried by how much despair, darkness and hopelessness he saw in Jack. Not just in his eyes, but in his stance too. To know that Jack went through so much torture, pain and loss, and hadn't been able to get the reset that the rest of the world did made Ianto's heart hurt. Working almost on auto-pilot, he went in through the tourist office and down into the hub, not even registering that the team was back.

"Where have you been, Ianto?" Gwen's voice broke into his thoughts. 

"Out," he replied.

"Out where? You still need to take care of the body."

"Has Owen finished his autopsy then?"

"Almost," Owen called from down in medical area.

"Then you didn't need me to take care of that," Ianto said. "Owen, let me know when you're finished. I'll be down in the morgue getting a slot ready for him."

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me where you were," Gwen said, stepping in front of him.

Ianto paused for a minute, eyes rolled up a little, obviously thinking. Tosh noticed the look and decided to see if Owen needed any help. "Last time I checked, Gwen, you weren't the boss here," Ianto said. "You've been filling in for the past month and, truthfully, have done a horrible job at it. You don't care about any of us, you just enjoy thinking that you have all the power around here, which isn't true any longer. Jack is here again, and he's the leader of Torchwood. That means I don't have to make an account of my time to you, or anyone other than Jack."

"So where is he?" Gwen demanded. "He left us again, Ianto, because he refuses to accept that anyone else can run Torchwood."

"Do you know what happened to the leader of Torchwood before Jack, Gwen?" Ianto asked. "Do you know how Jack came to be leader of Torchwood?"

"Ianto," Owen called, "don't."

"You are not my boss, Gwen Cooper," Ianto said. "If you don't back off now, then you will live to regret it."

"Ianto."

"I'm going now, Owen," Ianto called. "How long do you estimate this alien to be?"

"Average height for a human male. One of the standard bays will do," Owen said. "Least until we're sure we don't need him anymore."

"All right." Ianto twisted away from Gwen's restraining hand and vanished down into the tunnels he knew better than anyone on the team. He couldn't imagine they would need the body of a fish alien again, but odder things happened around Torchwood every day, and it was always better to hold onto things to be safe about it.

He heard footsteps behind him and, recognizing the shoes, stopped. He didn't want to give away any of his secret routes. "Yes?"

"We weren't finished, Ianto," Gwen said.

"Yeah, we were," Ianto replied.

"Not until I say we are," Gwen said. 

He would have leaned against the wall had it been anyone else, and had he been in a cleaner section of the hub. "Tell me something, Gwen, how long have you been lying to us all?"

"What?"

"When we got back to the hub that day, you said that Jack had been taken by something," Ianto said. "That's what you reported to UNIT, not giving any of us a chance to work out what happened before you were suddenly in charge of the hub. I wondered, you know, why none of our questions were ever answered after that. I even called UNIT and tried to talk to someone there, someone Jack knows and is always willing to talk, but she wouldn't answer my questions. No one would. They just put you in charge, so I wondered exactly what you sold to get the position."

"How dare you?" Gwen yelled.

"It didn't take me long to find the answer either, or to fix the problem," Ianto continued. "I wonder how UNIT felt when they weren't able to access my archives any longer?"

"It was you?"

"And you blamed Tosh for it." Ianto tisked and shook his head. "You should have realized it a long time ago, Gwen, everyone overlooks me, and no one knows all my true skills. I've atoned for my mistakes and found peace with what happened, so don't even think about throwing Lisa into this conversation. So, let me tell you how this is going to go, shall I?"

Gwen started stepping back, giving ground as Ianto advanced on her. "Ianto, stop. We can talk about this, but you need to stay back," she stuttered, looking around her.

"You need to get out of my archives and apologize to Tosh," Ianto replied, still walking forward slowly. "Then, you will clean all your crap out of Jack's office and, when he comes back, you will apologize to him for your attitude and hope that he's as forgiving of you as he was with me."

"Ianto."

"Run away, Gwen," Ianto said. He watched with grim satisfactions as she ran back down the corridor, and tried not to jump out of his skin when someone spoke behind him.

"That was disturbingly hot."

"You should know better than to eavesdrop, Sir," Ianto smirked, turning around.


	5. Chapter 5

When Jack left the roof, he wanted to go somewhere that no one else knew about, some place where it would be harder for the Doctor to find him. Just somewhere he could be alone and think. It wasn't hard for him to sneak back into the hub, he'd installed a number of hidden doors over the years, doors he'd never told anyone else about, so he would always have a way to escape if he needed to. The lower archives were rarely used, even by Ianto, so Jack was fairly sure that he would be alone for as long as he wanted.

Hearing Ianto arguing with Gwen made Jack realize that he didn't know how much Ianto really knew about the areas under the main hub. He crept closer, silently, so he could hear what they were saying and was surprised by the topic. So, UNIT high command had been working to gain access to Torchwood's archives again, and Gwen had just given it to them. Jack sighed, it was time for him to put the UNIT idiots back in their proper place again, and he'd shoot anyone they sent to try and take over on the excuse of an inspection. Torchwood was his and he would play nice with everyone else as long as they played nice with him, which, from the sound of things, they hadn't been doing. Jack made a mental note to check the computers and see exactly what files UNIT had been poking around in before Ianto stopped them. He winced when Ianto started listing out instructions for Gwen, recognizing the tone and timbre of voice. Ianto was livid and he was about two seconds away from using his most powerful weapon.

"That was disturbingly hot," he said, once Gwen was gone not stepping out of the shadows he was hidden in.

"You should know better than to eavesdrop, Sir," Ianto said, turning around. "Jack, where are you?"

"I came down here to be alone."

"Well, now you know how I feel about everything that happened while you were gone," Ianto sighed. "I have to get a slot ready in the morgue for the blowfish. I'm not going to try and force you into anything, Jack, but I think that you should be willing to listen to what the rest of us have to say."

"I'm scared, Ianto," Jack admitted.

"Jack?"

"You lot are the first team I put together on my own, brought together in the hub to work with me to protect the planet," Jack said. "So, naturally, you all mean more to me than I've let anyone do in a long, long time. I've forgiven all of you time and again, knowing that alien technology is a temptation that humans can't resist playing with, not until it hurts them badly enough that they learn to treat it with respect. You're all still infants here, infants who decided to play with the fire and killed me rather than listen to what I had to say, how I was going to handle it. As a result, I died twice and so many innocents fell victim to a monster no one should have ever had to face. My biggest secret is out in the open. I can't die. I can't ever be fixed, I'm stuck like this for the rest of eternity. Every single person I love now I'm going to have to watch die because I can't follow them. So what's to stop all you infants from killing me, just enough to keep me dead for an hour or two, and sticking me in the deep freeze?"

"Jack." Ianto was horrified by what he was hearing from the other man. "I would never let them do that to you. You were dead, you didn't hear my reaction to Owen shooting you."

"He still shot me, Ianto. And you still helped him open the rift."

"I thought you were gone, Jack. Dead. I didn't know that you can't die. I figured that if opening the rift would bring Rhys back to life, then it would bring you back too," Ianto said. "When you came back, when I heard you gasp for air and heard the fear in your voice, I knew I'd made the wrong choice. Again. I will never doubt you again, Jack, and if they want to put you in the deep freeze, they'll have to put me right in there with you, because no one will take you away from me again. Please, Jack, let me see you. Trust me again."

Jack stepped out of his hiding place. "How do I trust again, Ianto?" he asked.

"By taking my hand now, Jack, and knowing that no matter what happened to you, or what will happen to you, I'll be right here the whole time," Ianto said, reaching out. "Stay on guard as long as you think you need to, but I swear that I will always be next to you to keep you safe no matter what happens."

"Ianto?"

"I don't care that you left, Jack," Ianto said. "I just care that you came back again." He pulled his lover into a tight hug. "Come on, let's go up and you can take your place back at the center of Torchwood."


	6. Chapter 6

"Jack!"

Owen's head appeared around a corner at Tosh's exclamation. "Knew you'd come back," he muttered, stepping out into the main area of the hub.

Jack looked over at Owen, over Tosh's head, and Owen was shocked at the darkness he saw swirling in the Captain's eyes. Jack leaned down to kiss the top of Tosh's head and released her, stepping back a little. "I'm okay, Tosh," he said softly.

"No, you're not, but you will be," she said just as softly. "Ianto and I will make sure of it."

"Where's Gwen?" Jack asked, looking around.

"She's been in your office since she came up out of the archives looking like she'd seen a ghost," Owen replied, leaning against the wall. "You got ghosts down there now, tea-boy?"

"Go find out for yourself," Ianto said.

"Nah, not that curious," Owen said.

They all looked up when the door alarm sounded, and only Jack was close enough to hear Ianto's groan. He stood up straighter and suddenly not even Ianto could see the wear of the previous year on his face or his stance. "Captain Morgan," Jack said.

"Harkness. I hear that you think you're taking control of Torchwood back."

"Well, it seems to me that I never lost command of Torchwood in the first place," Jack said. "I had an unscheduled holiday, family emergency, and wasn't able to get in touch until today, but I knew my team was more than capable of working without me."

"According to Gwen, you were taken by something," Morgan said, stepping forward. "You need to come with me and we're going to be running some tests on you to make sure you're really who you say you are, and nothing was done to you."

"No."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said no, Morgan. Just like a dear friend of mine once said to the daleks. No." Jack stepped forward. "I wasn't taken by anything, I left for a family emergency and was out of touch. This is Torchwood, not UNIT, and you really have no business here, well, unless you're here for Gwen. She does get around."

Everyone winced and Ianto stepped up next to Jack. "Captain Morgan, I've been here the whole time and can corroborate Jack's whereabouts," he said.

"Then why haven't you before?"

"No one asked me," Ianto said.

"It's true," Owen piped up, "no one asked any of us anything, just put Gwen in charge and let her do what she wanted. Jack here had no choice, he had to go when he did, none of us would have stopped him and, if Gwen had bothered to talk to any of us, she would've known he'd be back in a few weeks."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest. "I was away, I'm back. This is my hub and my business, Morgan," he said. "I'm more interested in why you folks at UNIT were poking around in our private files while I was gone."

"We're working on a project to keep the planet safe and needed some information it turned out you had all along," Morgan said.

"Our files are locked for a reason," Jack said. "And you know what, I don't have to explain it to you, but I'm going to anyway. A few years ago, our planet was visited by the Sxcorax and, as they were leaving, the then Prime Minister gave the order to Torchwood 1 to attack and destroy them. Since then, we have had more invasions, more attacks, more aliens coming here than ever before. She drew attention to the planet before we were ready, and I will not let the same mistake be made twice. My files, my archives, my data are for Torchwood only. None of it will ever be used to attack an alien race who is leaving us in peace. If they want to fight us, then it's another matter entirely, but no one is getting shot in the back on my watch."

"Or mine," Ianto added, pulling the gun out of Gwen's hand. 

"Nice of you to join us, Gwen," Jack said, turning around. "Shame about the heels on your shoes, they announce your presence to anyone within a hundred yards of you. Ianto, Owen, take her down to the interrogation area and make sure she's secure. I have a few more details to clean up here and I'll join you." He turned back to the UNIT Captain. "You can try whatever you want to take over my hub, Morgan, but it isn't going to happen. I'm going to go through all the files you downloaded information from and, if I see anything there that you shouldn't have, I'll be coming to pay you a visit. You got that?"

"What are you going to do with Gwen?"

"I don't know, yet. It depends on how big of a mistake she made," Jack said. "I'm a fairly forgiving man, if someone deserves forgiveness. I'll just have to see what I can find. Now, get out of here before you join her."  
******

"Don't suppose we could tape her mouth shut, could we?" Owen asked.

Ianto bit his lip trying not to laugh at the insulted look on Gwen's face. "I suppose we could, but it would just make it that much harder for Jack to get answers to his questions."

"Where was he, Ianto?"

"Just where he said he was, with his Doctor," Ianto smiled. "The hand in the jar was the key, just like we suspected all along."

"Just like you suspected, I thought he had some sort of weird relationship going on with that hand," Owen said. "Right, I'm going to get a few things from the autopsy area, just so's I don't have to run back and forth while Jack's doing this."

"Owen, why are you helping them?" Gwen asked.

"Because I made a mistake, just like Ianto, and I'm sorry for it," Owen said. "I'm a doctor and I forgot about that when I helped you. No more, Gwen. Jack may be trash as a leader, but he knows more than we do."

"Thanks for that ringing vote of confidence there, Owen." Jack stepped into the room, still in his coat. Somehow he seemed larger than normal, or it was possible that they'd just forgotten how much space he took up. "All right, let's get this over with. I've had enough unpleasantness to last me, well, for at least a normal human lifespan or two. Gwen, you heard what I was saying to that oh-so nice UNIT Captain up there. Torchwood's files are Torchwood's business. Not UNIT's, not anyone's other than us. There's information in there that could literally blow up the planet, and you don't want to do that. Blowing up planets is bad."

"I have a list of the files they managed to mine before I blocked them off, Sir," Ianto said, holding out a file folder.

"Ianto Jones, I think you deserve a raise," Jack smiled.

"So make him your full-time shag and get on with it," Owen grumped. "Some of us have important work to get back to, you know."

Jack turned and leveled a look at Owen. "You can leave any time you want, Owen," he said softly. "I don't need you here for this. If you're going to stay, then shut up."

Ianto shivered a little at the tone in Jack's voice and mentally smacked himself. He didn't need to know that Jack being dark and evil turned him on. The man had just suffered through a year of torture at the hands of a mad alien. The last thing Ianto wanted to do was make Jack relive anything that reminded him of that time.

"Interesting," Jack said softly. "Ianto, how many people would have seen these files?"

"It's hard to say, Sir; the person downloading them, certainly, but then it could be any number of people in the higher command," Ianto replied. "The only way to know for sure would be to speak with them directly."

Jack dropped the file on the table and looked at Gwen. "You have one chance to tell me the truth, Gwen Cooper," he said softly. "Just one, because right now I am not in a forgiving mood. Tell me what you thought you were doing."

"Jack, I...."

"No excuses," Jack shouted. "No pleading, no lies. Tell me what you were doing."

"I had to step up and lead Torchwood while you were gone," Gwen said. "You just left, Jack. You never told any of us what you were doing, where you were going, or when you would be back. Someone had to be willing to take over, and I was the logical choice."

Owen snorted. "You mean you took the chance you've been waiting for since you found out what we are," he said. "We hadn't even cleared away the papers on the floor before you were on the phone to UNIT telling them what happened and got yourself put in charge here. Afraid it was going to be Ianto?"

"I would have done my best had it been me," Ianto said. "But I know the team wouldn't follow my lead in the field. That's Jack's position, always has been, and always will be."

"See, I'm hearing two different things here, Gwen, so which is it? There's no reason UNIT should have had any say in who ran Torchwood in the first place," Jack said. "I work with them because we have a common goal in mind, to keep the planet safe, but you gave them everything they need to make us a big enough threat that the aliens might just come to wipe us out if I can't fix this. Because of your little power play, the whole planet is at risk."

"Jack, I just....."

"Save it. The only thing you wanted was power. Well you've got plenty of that now, Gwen," Jack said. "Put her down in the cells until I'm calmer. The only thing I want to do now is shoot someone. I'll be down in the range."


	7. Chapter 7

Jack sighed and put the gun down on the table next to him. "I know you're there, Doctor," he said. "You might as well join me rather than lurking in the shadows."

"These are nice shadows," the Doctor replied. "They're dead, they're convenient and, above all else, no one ever looks for you in the shadows."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Jack sighed. "So, what did you think of that mess up there?"

The Doctor stepped into the room and frowned at the selection of guns Jack had out. "It depends on what they got into, of course," he said. "Is it really that bad?"

"Let's put it this way. I think it'd be a good idea if no one else saw you around for a while, Doctor," Jack said. "Those files, they were, in one way or another, all related to you."

"To me?"

"In some way or another, yes. I know you used to work for them, Doctor. I've read every file anyone on Earth has about you, and even corrected a few of them," Jack said. He sat down and started to clean the guns, knowing that the Doctor probably wouldn't want him shooting. "There was only one file they got into that didn't relate in some way to you, and that's the one that really drove me down here. Ianto and I are going to fix this because, right now, UNIT could destroy the planet without even knowing about it."

"Tell me what's going on, Jack," the Doctor said.

"Years ago now, I'm not even sure how many, a ship came through the rift," Jack said. "Ianto, you might as well join us. This concerns you too."

"I didn't want to interrupt," Ianto said.

"Me neither."

"Owen."

"And me," Tosh added. "Gwen is secure, Jack, and we all want to know what we can do to help."

The Doctor looked at all of them and smiled. "You were right, Jack, you do have a good team here. I don't know about them, but I could do with a cup of tea."

"All right, let's go up to the boardroom," Jack sighed. "Ianto, will you take care of the drinks, please?"

"Of course, sir," Ianto smiled.

"Sir?" the Doctor asked with a grin.

"It would be improper for me to call him anything else during business hours," Ianto replied, leading the Time Lord back towards the main section of the hub. "After hours or when we are alone is another matter. What sort of tea would you like? I keep a selection."

The Doctor looked at him seriously. "Are you ever caught unprepared, Ianto?"

"I try not to be."

"Good, because I have a feeling that's what Jack will need more than anything for a while," the Doctor said. "Black is fine, milk and sugar would be wonderful and, do you have any bananas around here?"

"Bananas?"

Jack started laughing so hard that he had to stop walking and lean against a railing until he'd caught his breath. "You and your bananas, Doctor," he gasped, holding his sides. He slid to the floor still giggling. "Ianto, do we have any bananas?"

"No sir, but I can run out and get some if it's that important," Ianto replied, looking at his lover on the floor. He'd never heard Jack giggle before, or seen him laugh so hard. It worried him.

"He's fine, Ianto," the Doctor said. "Let him get it out of his system and he'll be back to his normal self in no time. I have some bananas in the TARDIS. Won't be a minute."

"Are you going to explain that, sir?" Ianto asked when they were alone near the coffee machine.

"There was, there was a weapons factory that took up most of the center of this planet's main city," Jack hiccuped. He leaned back and tried to catch his breath. "I had a sonic weapon from there, time agency issue, but the factory blew up not long after that. The weird thing was, this banana plantation appeared where the factory had been and no one knew who did it. The day I met the Doctor, he saw my blaster and knew instantly where it was from. Then he told me he'd been to the factory once."

"He destroyed it," Ianto said.

"He not only destroyed it, he planted the bananas," Jack said. "Ouch, my sides. That's one thing that hasn't changed between regenerations. He still loves bananas."

"Should I lay in a supply then?" Ianto started the water for tea and turned to the coffee machine. "Did you want coffee or tea, Jack?"

"Coffee. I've been without coffee for so long, and it seems even longer because it's your coffee I was missing," Jack said. "And no, don't worry about keeping bananas around. He always has some stashed away somewhere. Remind me to tell you about that day, when I met him for the first time. I think it'll help you understand a few things better."

Ianto didn't know what to do with a suddenly more open Jack, or one who was having mood swings. He only hoped the Doctor wasn't going to be far for a few days. He felt like he needed all the help he could get. "I'll keep that in mind, sir," he said. "You know, you can't run the meeting from the floor. Are you going to be able to calm down enough to walk to the boardroom, or should I ask Owen and Tosh to join us here?"

"I'll be fine in a minute," Jack said, still trying to catch his breath. Images of the Doctor, his first Doctor, grinning with a banana in his hand kept making him giggle. He knew that he was probably scaring Ianto, but he just couldn't stop. Part of him still couldn't believe he was really back in his home, back with Ianto. He was afraid he was going to wake up and find the Master looking down on him.

"You won't," the Doctor said softly. He sat down next to Jack's head and ran a hand through Jack's hair. "You won't. He's gone, Captain. Gone for good, and will never be able to touch you again. We checked, there's no little surprises hidden in your mind, nothing that will be triggered later. You're home and you're safe."

"Thanks, Doc," Jack managed. "Ianto, go on up and let them know I'll be right there. I just need a minute."

"Of course. Take your time, Jack," Ianto said. "I'll pull up the files so you can show us all what you're talking about."

"Good man," the Doctor said. He watched Ianto leave. "I still think you staying here isn't the best thing for you right now, Jack," he said softly. "You know as well as I do that torture takes a long time to recover from, and it's possible you could hurt one of them. I would bring you back not long after you left. The TARDIS would help me with that, and you can bring Ianto with you. I like him, he's a good chap."

Jack sighed. "Let me take care of this threat and we'll see, Doctor," he said. "I'm not lying to you when I say that this is something that should never have happened."

"I'll follow your lead, Captain," the Doctor said.

"Thank you." Jack let the Doctor pull him to his feet. He took a deep breath. "Okay, let's get this party started."

"Good thing I brought enough bananas for everyone then," the Doctor said. He smiled at Jack's fond snort. He wasn't going anywhere as long as the Captain needed him. The Doctor had a few wounds of his own to help the man heal from.


	8. Chapter 8

The rest of the team looked up when Jack walked in, followed by the Doctor. Ianto had everything set up, as he had promised, and was standing behind Jack's usual chair. Jack smiled, "Doctor, you go ahead and take my chair. I'm going to need to be up here for a while anyway."

"You okay to do this?" the Doctor asked softly.

"I have to be," Jack whispered. "Owen, Tosh, formal introduction time. This is the Doctor. Yes, the one you've read about and the one I've been waiting for. He's one of my oldest friends and I trust him with my life."

"Hello again," the Doctor smiled. "Banana?"

The sight of the yellow fruit almost set Jack off again. There was a reason he rarely ate bananas. "He's going to help us fix this mess," Jack continued, only just managing not to giggle. "I haven't looked at this file in years, but I remember when the ship came through. It was just after the Second World War, when there were still blackouts enforced and this ship came through in the middle of the night. It landed not far from here out in a field, and I was part of the team that went out to retrieve it."

"That all sounds fairly standard," Owen said. "Why's this file so top secret and why'd UNIT want it so bad?"

"The Vyngurians," Jack said.

"No," the Doctor exclaimed. "That's not possible. They were eliminated from time and space. There's no possible way one of their ships could have landed here on Earth, at least not landed and me not hear about it."

"You worked for UNIT, Doctor," Jack said. "Torchwood was still very much off their radar back in the forties and they held onto this find like it would change everything for them. It did, but not like I wanted it to. The team I was with went crazy and killed themselves. The ship was taken apart in an attempt to recreate some of the tech, and other parts were used to build weapons that were hidden around London."

The Doctor nodded. "You've taken care of those weapons since, haven't you, Captain?"

"One of the first things I did once I could get away from my handlers," Jack said. "The plans for the ship were eventually scanned and uploaded into the computers at Torchwood One when it went live, and they ended up here when we stole everything during the battle." He looked at Owen and Tosh. "I locked a great deal of information away from you because you're not ready to see it. Not ready to understand that there are beings out there who will kill for sport. Kill for the sheer joy of the pain of their victims."

"Sounds like serial killers to me," Owen said. "So the ship came through, drove people to kill themselves rather than handle what they were seeing and was turned into weapons. Why is it such a threat to everything if UNIT gets their hands on the plans?"

"It's not just the plans that were in that file," Jack said. He changed the images they were looking at. "There were still parts of the ship stored here, things that hadn't worked when the science teams were trying to build the weapons, and some of those weapon parts were here. They were all missing their power cores, I'm not about to leave weapons of that level lying around with the power still on, but the cores are easy to engineer. I don't know what all UNIT took, but it's possible they now have enough weapons power to launch a ship into the outer reaches of the solar system and kill anyone they meet out there."

"It's too soon," the Doctor said. "This isn't the time for it. The timelines are wrong, Jack. If they do this now then they'll rewrite the timeline for how humanity spreads out into the universe."

"Why does that matter?" Tosh asked. "I mean, I've heard Jack muttering about timelines before, but he's never explained himself when we've asked him about it."

"He doesn't explain a lot of stuff," Owen added.

The Doctor stood up and leaned forward. "Jack doesn't tell you about the future because it's possible that the simple act of telling you something will be enough to change a timeline and impact thousands of others in the process," he said. "You are a doctor, Owen Harper, not a Time Agent and not someone who understands the eddies of time flow. Jack does. He understands what it is to interfere with a timeline, to cross into the wrong time stream, to rewrite time. Jack knows that any one of those actions could be enough to destroy the universe and he's not stupid enough to try and play with them. I taught him better than that, once, and I'm glad to see that he's remembering his lessons."

Jack caught the banana with a grin and almost started laughing again. "Doc, you gotta quit with the bananas or I'm going to start laughing too hard to finish this up," he said.

"Then let me talk for a few minutes and you get yourself under control, Captain," the Doctor said. "The Vyngurians were a war race that lived in, ooohhhh let me see, the mid to late 31st century and were a terror to everyone in that part of the universe. I don't know how much information the Time Agency would have had on them, Captain, but you seem to know enough to know that they're bad."

"Few holos, not much, but a couple of my agent buddies had a run-in with them," Jack said. "They barely escaped and warned all of us to stay clear of that patch of time. What happened to the Vyngurians in the end, Doctor? That's one thing I've never been able to work out."

"They wiped themselves out in a massive civil war," the Doctor said. "So what I'm wondering, based on the plans you have of the ship, is if one of the scout craft for that war fell through the rift and ended up here rather than where they were supposed to." He pulled out his glasses and took a closer look at the screen showing the plans. "I'd need to see the remains of the ship itself to be sure, but I think this is a war scout. Definitely a short range craft, not meant for more than planet hopping, but armed heavily enough that it could defend itself if the locals took offense to their presence."

"The crew was dead by the time my team arrived," Jack said. "I think they were frozen and might still be in the deep freeze downstairs. The bosses here didn't tell Torchwood One everything."

"I'll check the list, sir," Ianto said.

"Thanks, Ianto," Jack grinned. "I'm fairly sure no autopsy was performed at the time, no one seemed to care much about the inner workings of the aliens back then, only about the tech they brought with them. I need to find out what UNIT took and what they're doing with it. Tosh, how long would it take you to hack into their system and find some plans for me?"

"Not long at all, maybe a day at max," Tosh said. "I tend to keep a trace running on their system all the time so all I have to do is deepen it and I'll be in."

Jack nodded. "Get to work on that and let me know as soon as you see anything that looks like it's based on our files," he said. "Ianto, check the list and find out of those pilots are still in the deep freeze. If they are, pull 'em out and Owen, you get to find out what actually killed them. Doctor, I need to know what clan they are."

"Simple enough, I'll be able to do that with no problem," the Doctor smiled. "What are you going to be doing while your team is working?"

"I'm going down to the archives to find out what UNIT took while they had free access to my Hub," Jack said. "Then, I'm going to question Gwen and find out what the hell is going through her head right now. Get to work people, it's possible that UNIT is already making plans to launch that ship."


	9. Chapter 9

"Jack?"

"Down here, Doctor," Jack called in reply. He'd buried himself in the lower archives, where things from the early 1900s were kept, searching for anything that might have been missing.

"Pilot, second and four warriors all from the triad clan," the Doctor said, leaning against a shelf. "I'd have to check the files on the TARDIS, but my best guess is that they were on their way to Bleesan, to fight in the battle there when they vanished. It's possible they didn't know what happened to them, that they died in the crash, but Owen is taking a look now."

Jack nodded. "There was a team that scouted the crash site, Doctor. It's possible they killed them and then reported back," he said. "UNIT's been down here, the dust is disturbed and things are missing. Not just linked into this file, this specific crash, but other items that should be here and aren't."

"Such as?"

"Things that were mostly classified as space junk that fell through the rift that no one thought to ask me about," Jack said. "Weapons that I made sure the power sources were always taken out of and destroyed, but I couldn't always work out how best to destroy the weapons themselves. I had thought that burying them in with odds and ends from throughout time and space would work. I don't know how UNIT knew to come right for them."

"You're sure there's no mention of them being weapons in the files?" the Doctor asked.

"Not even pictures in a lot of cases," Jack replied. "I have pictures of everything in my office. Hidden, no one knows about them, not even Ianto and he knows everything. I wanted to downplay what they were, turn attention away from them. Come on, I think it's time to talk to Gwen. I want you with me for this, Doctor."

"Of course, whatever you need," the Doctor said. "How do you want me to act?"

"Just be your insane self, Doctor," Jack said. He smiled at the squeak of disbelief from next to him. "I've known you're crazy from the start, Doctor. One reason I love you so much."

"Does Ianto mind you saying that?"

"No," Ianto replied from a walkway above them. "Coffee, sir?"

"You're a god-send, Ianto," Jack said. He took the mug and grinned. "Watch from up top, Ianto. The Doctor and I are going to go talk with Gwen and see what she has to say for herself."

"Then you'll probably be needing something stronger than coffee when you're done," Ianto said. "I'll see what we have in stores, sir. Also, what about supper? What would you like tonight?"

"Whatever you guys want is fine. You know I'll eat anything," Jack said. "Are you ready to do this, Doctor?"

"Ready when you are," the Doctor said.  
**  
Gwen was in one of the cells near the door and closer to Janet than Jack would have put her. He bit his lip to stop from grinning. It seemed that Ianto remembered how much Gwen hated Weevils too. He pulled a chair over and sat down. "When I hired you, Gwen, I gave you a test. I gave you chance after chance to prove yourself and I thought that maybe you were finally starting to settle into working here. I watched you and you kept secrets well, right up until the end. Then I started to worry."

"Who's that?" Gwen asked, looking behind Jack. "What's he doing here?"

"There's no one else here, Gwen," Jack replied. "Just you, me, and Janet. Just like the day you were first here. I brought your down here and let you meet Janet. Finding your way back was your test, and you passed it. Then you got to see all the wonders of alien life, and I wonder how much that called to you? The things that came through the rift, the pieces of alien tech that were so mysterious. No one ever likes my rule that no alien tech leaves the Hub without my permission, and everyone but Ianto has broken it. Tests and more tests, everything in life is a test, and people never seem to realize that. You all fail so often, it's a wonder humanity ever makes it to the stars."

"Jack, tell me who you brought with you or I'll scream," Gwen said.

"I told you, Gwen, there's no one else here," Jack said. He didn't want to look to see what the Doctor was doing. He'd probably start laughing again and he had to hold it together until they managed to save the planet. Then Jack was planning to fall apart and just hope there was enough of him left to put back together again. "Tell me who has been in my archives. Who's been going through my files and finding things they weren't supposed to be."

"No one's been in the archives, Jack."

"Don't lie to me, Gwen," Jack said. "You won't like what happens if you lie to me. I know someone was down there, and it wasn't Ianto. The marks are wrong. He also tends to sweep rather than leave tracks in the dust. No, it wasn't Ianto who was down there this time. Was it Morgan? He's always wanted to have free access to my Hub, and there's a reason I worked so hard to keep him out. If he manages to complete his project, Gwen, it's all going to be on you. Your fault. The end of time as we know it, and it'll be your fault. Again. The problem with you is that you never think before you act. You only want what's best for you and you never think about anyone other than yourself."

"Jack, I don't know what you're talking about," Gwen said.

"Yes you do," Jack said. "I'm going to stop them, Gwen. Time will not end on my watch. Not after everything I've lost to protect it." He pushed the chair back and left the cell area.

"You shouldn't make him mad, you know," the Doctor said conversationally.

"You, you were poking around in the Hub earlier," Gwen said. "I hate the lights down here, you can never see a damn thing. Would it kill them to put good lights in here? What do you want?"

"Peace for all time would be good, it's fairly high on my list," the Doctor said. "No more knots in time, that would be brilliant, but not likely to happen as long as there's life in the universe. A good cup of tea and a biscuit, now those are brilliant and don't happen often enough. Also bananas. Bananas are good, you know."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just looking around. Passing through, thought I'd see what's become of Torchwood since I was here last. I'm the reason you have a job, you know. If not for me and a werewolf, the Queen would never have created Torchwood. Not one of my best moments, I'll give you that, but still, could be worse. Will be worse if UNIT has their say. Captain Morgan, I have to admit I'm not familiar with the name, but there's been a lot of turnover since I was here last. Might have to call a couple of old friends and see what they have to say about all of this." He paused for a minute. "That's not a bad idea, actually. I'll have to ask about that one. The end of time is coming, Gwen Cooper, sooner than you think if Jack can't work this out. If it does, if time ends here because of your stupid little power play, then I'll make sure you suffer for what you've done. Oh yes, I think Jack will let me do that." The bemused look fell off the Doctor's face and he went so serious he was completely still. "Yes, the end of time is something that both Jack and I take very seriously, and we will make you pay."


	10. Chapter 10

"Jack, you need to see this," Owen called from down in the med bay.

"What's wrong, Owen?"

"Well, I don't know much about this specific type of alien, but I'm fairly sure they aren't supposed to have bullet holes in their heads or bullets rattling around their brains," Owen said, pointing at the X-Ray.

"So they were murdered by Torchwood," Jack sighed. He leaned against the railing and looked down at the alien on the table. "Poor guys were probably scared to death to end up on a strange planet with no way to talk to their home and then the local aliens showed up. You know, even if they shot first, they didn't deserve to die like this."

The Doctor appeared next to Jack and looked down. "Murder is never good," he said. "Jack, I've got an old friend with UNIT, mind if I give him a ring? He might know more about what's been happening than we do and would be able to fill us in."

"Sure, you want to use the phone in my office?" Jack asked. "Owen, see what else you can find out about these guys and then let's burn the bodies. I don't want any traces of this left when we're done."

"Yeah, no problem," Owen said, going back to work.

"It'll be better if I call from the TARDIS," the Doctor said. "She knows his number and that way no one at UNIT will know that Torchwood is calling. I'll be back in a bit."

Jack shook his head with a fond smile and went to see how Tosh was doing with her searches. There was also the question of what they were going to do with Gwen.  
***

"Lethbridge-Stewart, how can I help you?"

"Brigadier, this is the Doctor."

"Good lord, you've regenerated," the Brigadier said. "How long has it been for you, Doctor?"

"Longer than it should have been, old friend," the Doctor said. "Listen, I do hate to rush, but I've got a bit of an emergency brewing and was wondering if you'd heard anything official or unofficial about technology taken from Torchwood by UNIT."

The older man sighed. "Yes, Doctor, I have heard about that and the young fools who are trying to make the alien technology work for them," he said. "They wouldn't listen to me that this is a mistake and something they shouldn't be playing around with."

"I'm at Torchwood now with Captain Jack Harkness," the Doctor said. "He's just back from a trip with me, long story, and found that one of his people gave UNIT free access to the Hub here in Cardiff. We're trying to fix the problem, but I need to know where I need to land the TARDIS to take care of the problem peacefully and before this gets any farther out of control than it already is."

"Do you remember the base under the Tower of London, Doctor?" the Brigadier asked.

"Blimey, that takes me back," the Doctor replied with a smile. "You lot tried to hold me there rather than let me go out an deal with the, oh who was it trying to invade the Earth that time, oh, the WyrmKin. That's it. You could have avoided a lot of clean-up had you let me out earlier, you know."

The Brigadier laughed. "I'm sure we could have, Doctor," he said. "I haven't forgotten the lessons you taught me while we worked together, you know. The Tower of London base is where you need to go, Doctor. I'm not in country at the moment, otherwise I'd come join you. I'm not happy these young fools are trying to destroy so much of the city with their plans."

"I'll take care of it for you," the Doctor promised. "Jack and his lot will help, but I'll stop them. I promise."

"I know you will, Doctor. You've never lied to me, well, unless it was for my own good. Be careful. They're a trigger-happy lot these days."

"Oh, I've got a few tricks that no one knows about yet," the Doctor said. "Take care of yourself, old friend. I'll come see you soon."

"I'll look forward to it."

The Doctor put the phone down and just sat for a minute. He'd heard old age in his friend's voice and knew that the Brigadier didn't have much time left. He finally pushed himself up and went to tell Jack that he had a location and a way in.


	11. Chapter 11

"Jack, I've got a location," the Doctor said, joining Jack and Ianto in the office. "The catch is that we need to take the TARDIS to get in there safely, and even then, we're probably going to call a lot of attention to ourselves. More than we want to."

"So we need a plan," Jack said.

Ianto looked over from the filing cabinet. "Why not take Gwen with us?" he asked. "We throw her out the door, let her answer their questions while we get on with destroying any technology they may be working with."

"Is he always so blunt?" the Doctor asked.

"Only when someone messes with something that's his," Jack replied with a fond smile for Ianto. "Taking Gwen along, bound and gagged, is not a bad idea. It'd let her see there are consequences for her actions and what her selfishness almost cost this time around, but I'm not going to let her talk with UNIT. That'd just be too much of a problem."

"Jack, you said I shouldn't go around them," the Doctor said. "What if I went around them?"

"It's dangerous, Doctor," Jack said. "They might shoot you on sight."

"They might, yes, but then again, they might listen to me," the Doctor said. "You know how I can talk, Jack."

Ianto glanced back at the sound of Jack laughing again. "You know, Doctor, I haven't seen laugh this much, ever," he said. "You should share your secret."

"I'm afraid they're in jokes between us," the Doctor said. "Jack and I, we have quite a history between us and shared experiences that we can laugh about now because we survived them. This last comment that made him laugh, for example, is reference to a time when we were surrounded by thousands of insane daleks and the Emperor of the Daleks who had created all of them from the rejects of society. He told you part of the story of the banana, but not the poor child we were facing when I first told him that bananas are good."

"Child?" Ianto asked.

"Six or seven year old boy in the wrong place at the wrong time," the Doctor said. "Still, all worked out in the end, though I'll never look at a gas mask the same away again, don't know about you, Jack, but that gives me the willies that does."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "So, where do we need to go, Doctor?"

"UNIT has a secret base under the Tower of London," the Doctor said. "Been years since I was there last, but my old friend tells me that's the place they're working, so that's where we need to be."

"And the reason we need to take the TARDIS to get there," Jack said. "I don't fancy trying to break into the Tower of London, let alone a secret base under it. All right, so that's how we're getting in easily enough, but we still need to work out what we're doing once we're there."

"Maybe I could help, Jack?"

"Tosh?"

"I've got some EMP that would take out their computers easily enough," she said. "I don't know what it would do to alien technology though."

Jack glanced at the Doctor with a grin. "I think your beautiful old girl would laugh at an EMP from this time," he said. "I'd rather not risk it though. What else do we have, Tosh?"

"Well, there's the new device I've been working on to disable guns, but it's not ready yet and right now it'd probably blow up on you rather than help," Tosh said with a sigh. "Flash bang?"

"When did we get those?" Jack asked, sitting forward.

"We got them last week," Ianto replied. "There was some alien activity in the local police warehouse and, while we were in there, we took a few things that wouldn't be missed."

"I feel like I should scold you," Jack said. "Gwen's idea?"

"Yep."

"Then we push her out of the TARDIS first and then toss them," Jack said. "Doctor, they'll temporarily blind the UNIT officers working in the base, giving us time to tie them up and then we can do whatever we want to disable the tech they're working with."

"As long as they won't hurt anyone," the Doctor said. "You know how I feel about weapons, Jack."

"Of course I do. You swapped my blaster for a banana, remember?"

"Didn't want you to shoot the poor boy before I worked out a way to help him," the Doctor said. He grinned. "It sounds like we have a plan. Allons-y."


	12. Chapter 12

"Owen, Tosh, I want the pair of you to stay here and keep working on your assignments," Jack said, while Ianto was down in the cells with the Doctor fetching Gwen. "If you finish them up, save everything and work on whatever projects you've had going. Owen, when you finish those autopsies, I want the bodies burned. Let's give them some respect that they didn't get all those years ago."

"Right," Owen said. "What about Gwen?"

"She's coming with us," Jack said. "In fact, here she is now. Nice knots, Ianto. You've been practicing, haven't you?"

Ianto smiled. "Yes, Sir," he said. "The Doctor suggested leaving her feet free so we don't have to carry her about."

"Good idea, we don't want to strain our backs," Jack said. He took the bag Tosh held out. "How many?"

"Ten," she said. "That's all we took and I'll make up an inventory of everything else while you're gone."

"Sounds good, thank you, Tosh," Jack said. "Ianto, where's the Doctor?"

"Right here," the Doctor said, appearing from the archives. "I recognized something down there that I wanted to grab before we left. Might come in handy. Right, you lot, you ready?"

"As we're going to get," Jack said. "We'll be back soon, guys. Hold down the fort and don't let anyone in."

"We'll be fine," Tosh said. "Go save the planet, Jack. That's what you do best."

He kissed her cheek and followed Ianto and the Doctor towards the back of the Hub. "You really parked back here, Doctor?" he asked. "I'm impressed you found the space with all the junk we've got back here."

"I keep meaning to clean back here, I just haven't found the time," Ianto said. "Oh my, she really is as pretty as you said, Jack."

"Isn't she?" Jack grinned. He ran his hand over the TARDIS's railing. "Hello there my beautiful one. Miss me?"

The Doctor tried not to snicker when Jack jumped back and shook his hand. "She's learned a few new tricks, Captain," he said. "All right, short hops are tricky so everyone hang onto something. I don't know how rough this is going to get."

"Is it always this bumpy?" Ianto asked, trying to keep his feet as the TARDIS shook under him.

"No, this is actually smooth," Jack replied with a grin. "There we go, that's a landing. What do we have outside, Doctor?"

"Lots of men with guns," the Doctor said. He shook his head. "I do think they're going to shoot first and ask questions later. Do they really think that is a sound interrogation technique?"

"It is with Jack," Ianto muttered. 

"I'd rather not die today, if I can avoid it," Jack said. "As much as I want to toss Gwen out there first, I don't want her killed. I wonder if we should tell them we come in peace."

"Now that never works," the Doctor said. "Although, Jack, do you remember the adjustments we made before facing the daleks?"

Jack grinned. "No way."

"We might be able to hook it up again," the Doctor smiled. "I never took it apart, just unhooked it because it was a drain on the power. Want to give it a go?"

"I think they're out of bullets," Ianto said, looking at the monitor.

"What?" Jack joined his lover and stared. "No, they've got plenty of rounds. They're just waiting for something to happen. Well, let's see if they'll take the bait. Give me Gwen."

"You don't think they'll shoot her on sight?" Ianto asked.

"I saw a few familiar faces out there, including Morgan," Jack replied. He rested his hand on the door for a moment and tightened his grip on Gwen's arm. "Ianto, prime two of the grenades and get ready to throw them when I duck down. Doctor, you might want to stay back and make sure you've got your eyes covered."

"Ready, Sir," Ianto said. He had the bag at his feet and a flash bang in each hand.

"On three." Jack counted down, opened the door and shoved Gwen out into the open. When no one outside the TARDIS opened fire, Jack grinned and opened the door completely, dropping to the ground.

Ianto threw the first two grenades out the door in a smooth motion and covered his eyes with his arm. When the shouting died down, Jack risked looking out. "We're going to need some rope," he said with a grin.  
***

"Ready to defend against aliens and taken out by their own technology," the Doctor said once everyone in the base was tied up in the main room. "Do you think they can hear me again, Captain?"

"I don't know," Jack said. "I'm not overly familiar with the effects of a flash bang. I guess we could ask them." He looked back towards the group. "Hey, anyone able to hear yet? Yeah, looks like they can, Doctor. I saw some flinches out there, even if they are trying to pretend to still be deaf from the noise."

"Good, good," the Doctor said. "All right you lot, listen up. First of all, take a look at my ship. Do you know how long it's going to take to get those bullets out and get her repaired? Is that how you treat everyone who comes to call? No wonder UNIT has such a bad reputation these days. Blimey, I remember when UNIT gave a bunk and a job to a poor out of place alien who needed their help. Secondly, I'm the Doctor. Hello. I'm here to stop you blowing up the planet with your sheer stupidity. You see, I take time very seriously and those who mess with it generally have to explain things to me. My friends here are going to be destroying your projects and there's really nothing you can do to stop them because they are doing so on my orders. If anyone here doesn't know who I am, well, I think I'll let Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart have the pleasure of explaining it to you. Now, I'm going to start asking questions and you had better hope that I like the answers."


	13. Chapter 13

"He's manic," Ianto said softly to Jack as they started to gather up any bits of alien tech they could find while the Doctor was questioning the people from UNIT that were tied up.

"Yeah," Jack grinned. "Fun, isn't it?"

"Jack, have you both always been this mad or is it something time travel does to you?" Ianto asked. "Now this is mine. I know it's mine because it has my name on it." He turned at looked back at the captive men. "Who went into my archives and took my notebook?"

The Doctor glanced back and then looked at the men again. "He asked you a question, and I really wouldn't ignore him."

"None of us were in your archives," Captain Morgan said. "Damn it, Harkness, you can't just barge in and do what you like, you know. This is a direct violation of I don't know how many rules and I demand you release us at once."

"Not happening," Jack said. "I am with the Doctor and I take time very seriously. There is a point in time when humans venture out into the stars for the first time, a set point in time and space when that happens and should anyone manage to do anything sooner they'll change everything. Probably for the worst. I've never once seen a change in time that was for the better in the long run." He dropped the piece of tech he was holding and went to stand next to the Doctor. "You lot decided that my holiday meant it was open season on Torchwood's archives and you could just help yourselves to anything you wanted and damn the consequences. Hell, Gwen probably held the door open for you. But there's something you forgot. Torchwood is mine, Captain Morgan, and I know her archives better than anyone alive. No offense, Ianto."

"None taken, Sir," Ianto said calmly. "I do believe this is a blaster from our archives, and it has a new power pack in it."

Jack held out a hand. "Let me see." He took the blaster and looked at it. "Doctor?"

"Not a bright bunch here, are they?" the Doctor asked. "Anyone tried to test fire this lovely alien blaster yet?"

"No," Morgan replied.

"Good, good, because whoever did would have lost an arm," the Doctor said. He pulled out the power pack and looked at it for a moment, even pulling out the sonic screwdriver. "This power pack is made from studying the tech of Villengard isn't it? Dangerous lot there, good banana farmers though. Learned there are things more important than blowing people up. The blaster, on the other hand, is from right across the galaxy and the systems are completely incompatible."

Jack blinked. "I didn't know we had any tech from Villengard," he said. "Oh well, it's not like I still have my blaster. What else have you been finding, Ianto?"

"There's a fairly large ship back here that I think the Doctor needs to have a look at," Ianto said. He picked up a large gun that was from Torchwood's archives and loaded it with bullets he knew would work. "I'll just stand guard over this lot. First one to flinch dies."

"You wouldn't," Morgan protested.

"You invaded my archives, stole my notebook and my things," Ianto said. "You tracked dust everywhere, hacked our databanks, and didn't clean up after yourselves. Try me."

"Ianto always is a little cross when people don't tidy up properly," Jack said. "I'll stay here, Doctor. You go see what this pathetic group of losers has been up to."

"All right, be right back," the Doctor said. "Ianto, try not to shoot anyone though. It's messy and I really don't want to have to explain blood to the Brigadier."

"I'll try my best, Sir," Ianto said.

The Doctor shook his head and moved towards the space ship that was being assembled in the back of the workshop area. The outer shell was definitely one that he recognized from the files at Torchwood and there were enough weapons lying around that it looked like whoever was going to be flying the ship planned to start a small war wherever they landed. He sorted through everything, muttering to himself the whole time, and finally moved back up to join Jack and Ianto.

"Right then," the Doctor said. "How many of you have heard of me before today? Oh, sorry, right, you can't raise your hands, can you. A word to the wise, I hate weapons. If I had my way, weapons would be banned and replaced with things like bananas and biscuits. I know how the universe works and I know that's not possible. Not as long as it's populated with people. That said, there's enough weapons back there to blow up a planet, so I want to know exactly what you think you're doing planning to launch a ship into space with that sort of load onboard."

"We have to protect ourselves," Morgan said.

"Wrong answer," the Doctor said. "Captain Harkness, Ianto Jones, destroy everything."


	14. Chapter 14

"Is that everything?" the Doctor asked, watching Jack and Ianto carry two more bags of tech onto the TARDIS.

"We need to a sweep to make sure, but I think so," Jack replied. "What are we going to do with all of this stuff, Doctor? I don't want it back at Torchwood. That would cause way too many problems."

"As much as I hate to do it, there's a handy black hole that will be perfect for all of this," the Doctor said. "You lot mind a trip off-world to help me dump it?"

"I'd be honored, Sir," Ianto said. "Jack, I think this is the guidance system from that ship we destroyed."

"Thanks, Ianto," Jack said. He pushed a few buttons and froze. "Doctor."

The Doctor looked at the readout screen and Ianto took a step back at the look on the Doctor's face. The Time Lord took a deep breath and slowly turned to look at the people who were still tied up on the floor by the TARDIS. "This was your first stop?" he asked in a soft, quiet tone. "You were going here with all of those weapons and you were going to kill them?"

Jack had recognized the tone in the Doctor's voice and started pulling Ianto away from him. "Come on, we're going to grab whatever alien tech we can find and add it in. You really don't want to be close to him right now."

"What's going on, Jack?" Ianto whispered.

"There's a reason the Doctor is such a legend in the universe," Jack said. He started grabbing anything he recognized as alien and motioned to Ianto to do the same on the other side of the tables. "The daleks fear him, hell, any alien who's tried to take over the universe fears him and there's a good reason for it. Ianto, I saw him stand up to the Emperor of the Daleks in the middle of this huge army of Daleks. It was the two of us and Rose and yeah, we had a force field protecting us, but it was jury-rigged and we had no idea how long it would last. He just, when he goes cold like that, stay back because someone is going to end up hurting and there's no way to tell who it's going to be."

"He hides it well," Ianto said. "I think that's the lot, Jack, unless they have a sub-basement we don't know about."

"Good, put in that program that Tosh handed you that you both think I don't know about, let's give ourselves a little easier route into their computer systems and I'll see if I can get the Doctor to calm down a little," Jack said. "This might leave a mark."

"He's not going to kill anyone, is he?"

"No, but he has a tongue on him and when his temper is up...." Jack trailed off with a sigh and headed back towards the Doctor and the cowering UNIT scientists. "Hey."

"Captain?"

"We've got all the tech, Ianto's working a little magic, but I think we've set their research back about ten years," Jack said. "Doctor, why don't we take Gwen and the good Captain Morgan to see the planet they were planning to destroy and then dump them somewhere they can think about what they did?"

The Doctor turned towards Jack slowly and started to grin. "I like that idea, Captain," he said. "I forget what a devious mind you have at times. Right, you lot, I'll be watching you all much closer to make sure you're not stupid again. Stupid gets people killed. When the Brigadier gets back, you tell him that I'll be stopping by to talk with him and I'll explain where one of his officers went. Bring them along, Jack."

"With pleasure," Jack grinned.  
***

"Right, black hole first, if only so we're not so cluttered in here. Blimey, you can't move for tech," the Doctor said. "Jack, you would have enjoyed meeting the people who were mining around this black hole. Good lot they were, they just didn't understand what was under them. One of the oldest evil creatures in the universe and it took over not only one of their own, but so many Ood. I couldn't save the Ood in the end. They fell into the black hole. Sometimes not even Time Lords have the time to do everything."

"Sounds like an adventure," Jack said. "There we go, a fully functioning force field and I still want to hear someone say that drunk."

"Another in-joke?" Ianto asked with a smile. He was getting fond of the side of Jack the Doctor brought out.

"Yeah," Jack replied. "Sorry to be leaving you out so much, Ianto."

"It's fine, Sir, I'm quite enjoying imagining the circumstances behind each one," Ianto said. "Doctor, how are we going to off-load so much garbage into a black hole and not be sucked in ourselves?"

The Doctor grinned. "That's a very good question, Ianto Jones, and one with a very simple answer," he said. "Time Lords invented black holes and the TARDIS can automatically adjust for the gravitational pull and fly through the event horizon safely."

"Very simple," Ianto said, trying not to roll his eyes. "And the force field?"

"Well, it's not a good idea to leave any part of the door exposed when we're around a black hole. We'll be safe, but it's possible some of the tech remains could try and fly back to hit us," the Doctor said. "The TARDIS naturally generates a small field immediately outside the door, Jack's addition to the console boosts the range and strength of that field."

"Jack's addition?" Ianto asked.

"Jack's a natural with temporal engineering," the Doctor said. "I've tried to steal him back from you, Ianto, but he won't come. Not for a while, anyway."

Jack nodded. "There's stuff to do on Earth still, Doctor, but I'll hold you to the offer one of these days."

"I'll be there, Jack," the Doctor said. "All right, we're here. Jack, Ianto, hold on to our guests just in case I've miscalculated our point of entry." He waited until everyone was secure and opened the door. "Perfect. All right, gentlemen, we can start throwing things out, and then it's off to a lovely planet. One that we saved. That's something you both can be proud of."


	15. Chapter 15

The Doctor threw a final switch on the console and grinned. "There we are, just where and when we want to be," he said. "Your scientists have it all wrong, you know. The planets at the edge of your solar system and the next system over do have life on them, just not the sort of life you're expecting."

"UNIT planned to fly out of our system and into the next," Jack said, picking up Morgan and leaving Gwen for Ianto to manage. "There's two planets there with life on them, as best I can recall. Lovely people, peaceful and very low tech. Doctor?"

"Atmosphere is close enough to match, you're safe to come out," the Doctor said. "Take a look around, Gwen Cooper, Captain Morgan. This is what you would have destroyed should your plans have come to their natural conclusion and that ship was launched."

The TARDIS had landed on a hill overlooking a village nestled in a valley. Ianto watched the local population go about their business with a smile. They were small and furry, not unlike a type of ape, but with an obviously developed culture. "They're adorable," he finally said.

"Yes, they are, aren't they?" the Doctor asked. "I've visited a few times, but not for about a hundred years in their future so I had to be sure we'd be clear of the village. They don't have weapons, Morgan. Not even sticks, which is a lesson humans could stand to learn. They resolve conflicts in meetings with very detailed rituals. You would have landed here, disrupting their timeline, ruined Earth's and killed every last one of them simply for being here. That's not the reputation humans take out into the universe and I will make sure it stays that way."

"Take me home," Morgan said. "None of you had any right to do this and I'm going to make sure you're punished by the crown."

The Doctor looked at him for a long minute. "I'll pop in and have a word with the Queen, but you're not going home again, Morgan. Neither is Gwen Cooper. I have the perfect planet for the pair of you to live out your lives on. You're so anxious to kill aliens, to mess with time, I'm going to show you the direct consequences of that and you're both going to get a very close look at the effects. Let's go, Jack."  
***

"They'll be okay?" Ianto asked as the TARDIS left the planet they'd left Captain Morgan and Gwen on. "I mean, the local population won't kill them."

"Nah, they'll be fine. I could have dumped them on an ice planet and left them to freeze," the Doctor said. "That's a very temperate area there, no local life forms for hundreds of miles, but plenty of fresh water, fruit and native animals. As long as they're willing to work for it, they'll both have long, healthy lives. Probably healthier than they would have had on Earth. Now then, Captain, it seems to me that you were thinking a beach holiday could be nice once the mess was over. You two still up for that?"

"Yeah, I am," Jack said. "Ianto?"

"A holiday sounds lovely," Ianto said. "I just want to be sure we'll be back not long after we left."

"I'll have you back in time for tea," the Doctor said. "It's time, Ianto, for the two of us to help Jack heal from his time in the lost year, and I think the beach is just the start. It's time for an adventure."

Jack laughed. "With your driving, Doctor, it's always an adventure."

"You two are explaining that one," Ianto said with a sigh.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was pointed out that I missed one very important piece of the plot in here, so one more chapter. Hopefully this works. Thank you again for letting me know I'd forgotten what to do with Gwen's family.

"Jack, there's something we didn't think of," Ianto said.

"What's that?" Jack asked. He was half-buried under the console helping the Doctor with some wiring. Jack wasn't too sure how long he and Ianto had been traveling with the Doctor, but he was going to find it hard to go back and run Torchwood again. Maybe it was time to think about leaving. Ianto certainly seemed happy enough to be traveling.

"What are we going to tell Rhys?" 

"Aw, hell, I didn't even think about that," Jack said. "I was just too focused on the threat that they were posing to the planet's timeline that I never even realized there would be a problem leaving them on that planet."

"We could check and see if we have a body close to her physical description in the vaults," Ianto said. He sat down next to Jack's feet and tried to see what his lover was working on. "Rhys knows that she's in a dangerous line of work, we could stage an explosion or a fire."

Jack sighed and jumped when a few sparks hit him. "Sorry," he said, patting the console's edge. "That's a good idea, Ianto. I hate to lie to the man, he really seems to love Gwen, but it's not like we can tell him the truth."

"I think we're saving him some heartache, in the end," Ianto said softly.

"Her and Owen?" Jack asked.

"Jack, hand me the sonic would you?" the Doctor asked, breaking into the conversation. "I think I may have found the problem over here."

"What's wrong, Doctor?"

"Nothing I can't fix, it'll just take time," the Doctor said. "Go ahead and start clearing up what you've been working on and talk with Ianto about how you're going to explain Gwen's vanishing act. I hadn't thought of it either. The Brigadier will understand losing one of his men, he trusts me, but Gwen's family is another matter entirely."

Ianto smiled. He was really getting fond of the Doctor. "It's not like you could just turn up on Rhys' door and tell him his wife has been banished to an alien planet for the rest of her life because she's a threat to the Earth's timelines."

"Well, I could, but it would be awkward," the Doctor said.

"I think Ianto has the right idea," Jack said. He hooked one last wire back into place and slid out from under the console. "I'm hooked back in and running, Doctor. Ianto, we'll have to check the vaults when we get back and see what we have to work with. We still have some of Gwen's blood in the freezer, right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good, then we have DNA covered if he wants to have a test done," Jack said. "This is what it really means to defend the planet, Ianto. Lying and cover-ups. Still think this is what you want to do?"

Ianto caught Jack's hand with his own. "You can't run me off," he said. "You're stuck with me, Captain, and I'll do whatever you need to help keep the planet safe."

"Now that's the kind of dedication I like to see," the Doctor said. "There, I think that's got it. What do you say, one last stop before I take you lot home again?"

"I'm game," Jack grinned. "Yan?"

"Why not?" Ianto said. "You did promise we'd be back in time for tea. I'm still holding you to that. There's lots to do yet."

"Always home in time for tea," the Doctor grinned. "Next stop, everywhere."


End file.
